Apple is reported to be developing their own native and standards based web framework to compete with Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Silverlight. Named “Gianduia”, the client-side javascript framework would enable developers to create rich, desktop class web apps without the need for additional browser plugins.
It’s beginning to look as if Apple’s negativity toward Adobe Flash has more to do than what the company has actually made us believe. Apple is reportedly developing a HTML5 and JavaScript-based software framework that seeks to replace rivals Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight. Inspired by its Cocoa API, Apple has apparently named its new framework Gianduia, which in reality is an Italian hazelnut chocolate.
AppleInsider states that Gianduia was initially introduced at last year’s World of WebObjects Developer Conference alongside WWDC and that Apple plans to reveal more information about it to developers later this summer. Named after the Italian hazelnut chocolate, Gianduia promises to be plugin-free as it’s basically “browser-side Cocoa (including CoreData) + WebObjects, written in JavaScript”—as described by developer Jonathan Rentzsch. Renztsch similarly claimed that he was “Blown away by Gianduia” and that “Cappuccino, SproutCore and JavascriptMVC have serious competition.”
Even though the framework has been out for about a year now, and many have known about it, many details still remain unclear. At this point, it remains to be seen whether or not Gianduia stands a chance against Flash and Silverlight. However, this could be the reason why Apple has been talking negatively about Flash, and even the reason why Apple has blocked the Adobe framework from many of its products.
What effect the new framework would have on Flash or Silverlight remains to be seen as browsers have had the ability to run interactive web apps since 2005 and numerous client-side javascript frameworks have been available for some time. Apple has already started implementing such frameworks into their own internet applications: SproutCore is used by the MobileMe team, TuneKit is used by iTunes, Gianduia is used by Apple Retail, Coherent is used by Dashcode 3, PastryKit is used by the iPhone, and AdLib is used by the iPad.